Following a thrilling last-second victory in its last game, No. 7 Arizona was on the other end of a heartbreaking game on the road against unranked Oregon. The Wildcats led by as many as 17 points Saturday afternoon but ultimately lost by a score of 68-66 in Eugene.
Following a back-and-forth fourth quarter that ended with Oregon coming back to tie up the game with 11 seconds to go, the Wildcats were forced to go into overtime where they struggled to hold off Oregon’s tenacious offense and defense. That put the Ducks in position to make a last-second shot with less than a second remaining.
Oregon guard Endyia Rogers grabbed a loose ball that had been batted out of the paint and connected on a put-back layup just before the final horn. A half-court heave from the Wildcats came up short as the Ducks handed UA just its second loss of the season.
“Very tough loss today,” UA head coach Adia Barnes said. “I thought that we didn’t play a bad game. I thought we did some really good things. I think that we didn’t do a good job of maintaining our lead down the stretch, but a lot of very questionable calls didn’t go our way.”
Barnes believes the officiating in the game did not help UA down the stretch in Saturday’s loss. Not only does she believe it played into the team’s inefficiency from the field in the fourth quarter and overtime when the Wildcats (12-2, 2-2 Pac-12) were outscored 27-12, but she also believes it impacted how her group played defense late as well.
“The game was shifted, the momentum was shifted after some really tough calls,” she said. “That was clearly putting us hesitant on defense. Not the reason why we lost, but it’s just tough to play under those circumstances.”
Arizona post players Lauren Ware and Ariyah Copeland both fouled out in the game, and the Wildcats had three other players with three fouls in the game. Oregon attempted 26 free throws while UA only attempted 10.
UA forward Cate Reese had a stellar first half, leading the Wildcats with 10 points including leading the team in 3-point shots with two makes from deep. Guard Shaina Pellington also put together a different start than she did in UA's last game as she finished with eight points in the first half compared to her zero points against Oregon State.
After struggling as of late, Wildcats forward Koi Love came ready to play putting up eight first-half points off the bench. Love has not scored double-digit points since Dec. 17 against NAU.
The Wildcats took command of the game as soon as it started, going on an 8-0 run during the first quarter and possessing a 13-point lead with 13 seconds left in the half. UA’s shooting was also relatively good in the first half going 50% from the field in addition to 40% from 3-point range. However, Oregon (9-5, 2-1 Pac-12) went to the free-throw line a whopping 12 times in the half and went 12-for-12 as a team.
In the second half, the Wildcats built off their dominating first half shooting 50% from the field again in the third but also going 100% from the 3-point line. UA guard Helena Pueyo shined coming off the bench, putting up six third-quarter points all on 3-pointers.
However, Arizona had three players in foul trouble for a majority of the second half with Reese, Ware and guard Bendu Yeaney all having three personal fouls against them going into the fourth quarter.
Arizona struggled offensively in the final quarter of the game, giving up the lead it held since late in the first quarter allowing Oregon to come back from down 11 points to open the final period of regulation.
Defensively, the Wildcats outrebounded the Ducks 35 to 34 and scored 16 points off turnovers compared to Oregon’s nine. No player on the Wildcats scored double digit points in the second half though.
The Wildcats made their lives more difficult during the final moments of the game, leading by only five points at the start of the stretch run. Their fourth quarter struggles led the team to go into overtime.
“Everybody was in foul trouble, so I think you tend to be less aggressive,” Barnes said. “That’s something we can control. We had to be a little smarter knowing the game was being called really tight, but I think it’s just hard. There was a lot of inconsistency. It was just tough for us to play.”
During the game, Reese became only the fifth Wildcats player in program history to score 1,300 points and grab 700 rebounds. However, Reese did not score in the second half of the game and finished the night with 10 points and five rebounds.
Saturday’s game wrapped up Arizona’s extended road trip that started back on Jan. 9 with a game against USC. The Wildcats have not played a home game since Jan. 7 when they faced Washington State.
Arizona returns home to McKale Center next week when it faces Utah Friday night.
Matt Moreno contributed to this report.
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